While I certainly am not a fly fishing historian I have noted something that has me confused. There seems to be a great variation in what the color “Dun” means in a hackle. A dictionary definition says it is a “dirty grayish tan”. My old Universal Fly tying Guide by Dick Stewart has a color chart that confirms this. Yet most prominent breeders, (and dyers), of hackles have unreasonably diverse ideas of what the various shades of Dun are. To my surprise, the biggest supplier has not even the slightest hint of any tan or brown in any of his Dun hackles. Another popular producer sells Medium Dun hackles that all dark tan. With almost all of the so called Dun hackles being dyed, it would seem logical that the breeders would have better control. :?
What is “Dun” ?
whatever shade of gray you and the fish perceive it to be.
Not that this answers your question, “What is ‘dun’?”, but in my quest to find the answer, I’ve looked in historical books, seen old plates of photos, spoken to some breeders and numerous renown fly tyers as well as been involved in discussions on that same question on a few websites. While there might be some ‘general’ agreement, there is a wide disparity within that agreement especially when you get into the sub-name ‘blue-dun’. Anyway, the search goes on.
I would point out, and this has (imho) more to do with how we see hackle then how trout see hackle, that almost all dyed hackle necks have a flat color whereas an undyed neck has ‘hi-lights’, specks, flakes, shading, off-tones, variations, etc among the feathers or even on a single feather of a neck. I specify ‘almost all’ because I’ve seen one breeders dyed duns and, for some specific reasons, he’s able to get results that are not a flat bland color.
Deezel
There was a good discussion of this earlier this year. Review the following thread especially Denny Conrad’s response:
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=21544&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=color+dun
For the heck of it, I looked dun up in OED and got “Of a dull or dingy brown colour; now esp. dull greyish brown, like the hair of the [donkey] and mouse.”
Just out of curiosity I just visited the Whiting Farms website. Under the Fly Tying Feather section, the ‘Whiting’ line does not list ‘dun’ as a natural color. It is found under the ‘Hebert’ line section and there are 13 various shades or listings with descriptions that use the word “dun”.
Deezel
I’ve always thought about dun as a light, almost dirty gray but I have bought dun capes from reputable sources that bordered on cream, brown or tan mixtures. I’ve always believed that you could not successful dye a dun color because a true dun contains a mixture of these colors. 8T :lol:
Thanks Whatfly, now I’ve got to find some jackass somewhere to serve as a color match before I tie up any dun colored flies :lol: :lol: :lol:
I have some real issues with this term Dun because you never know what they are talking about. Looking at one cape here is what they have in “Dun”…
Brown Gray Dun, Dark brassy Dun, Dark Brown Dun, Dark Gray Dun, Dun Badger, Dun Grizzly, Honey Dun, Lt. Ginger Dun, Lt. Gray Dun, Lt. Tan Dun, Med. Brown Dun, Med. Cahill Dun, Med. Gray Dun, Pale Watery Dun, Rusty Dun, Plus other colors.
Now how in the heck is anyone to know what they all are??? I ask if any had any blue in them and they said no.
Skip
The word Dun comes from chicken breeders and it describes a light chocolate color. However the term is also defined (as stated earlier) dusty gray or something similar. Here is a link to an article about the dun and blue gene in poultry if anyone is interested.
http://groups.msn.com/SPPA/dunvsblue101.msnw
(copy and paste into browser if necessary)
Dun, I have found, can literaly mean a number of colors to different tyers depending on the area they are fishing but it is always a shade of muted gray or brown.
I would consider this rooster light BLUE dun:
This is a chocolate dun hen:
I like the Rooster and wish I could run across a nice cape of that blue. Not needing a #1 or even a #2 grade, but a very nice # 3 would be perfect for what I want.
Skip
As it applies to fly tying the term Dun refers to when you have completed the fly finishing with a neat thread head whip finished perhaps with a dab of black fingernail polish for a more shiny look. You are Dun and need to start a gnu fly.
Well, I decided, after reading the other posts, here, to “go to the source”. So, I walked over to my neighbor’s, Henry Hoffman, and asked HIM "Henry? What color, is truly considered “Dun”!?
He just smiled, and told me… ““Dun”, in raising fly tying hackles, comes in as many colors and shades of colors, as does REAL OLIVE!”
He did, elaborate a bit more, however and also told me; "Dun rooster hackle is usually a shade darker, than the hen’s. As to “what color”, it is a sort of “blended color”, of dusty gray and “chalky silver”. “There is, no, “blue” in “blue dun”, he added and said too, that “Blue Dun”, is really only a descriptive color of a darker shade of gray than the light colored natural dun”.
So, that’s his description and I figure if anyone should know, it’d be Henry!!! But, when he first said to me, "As many colors as there are “olive”, I understood what he was getting at, because I think between my dispensers, drawers and boxed up extra materials inventory… I must have about 99 different shades of what each and every supplier of dubbing, thread and chenilles, calls “A real, OLIVE, color”!!!
Paul
Holy Crap :shock:
I wish I could just talk to Henry for 10 minutes, let alone live next to him. He is truly one of my heros!
Henry is not only my neighbor, but also one of my dearest and closest friends/fishing partners. Probably one of “THE” all time “Nice Guys”, you’d ever want to meet! He’s taught me more about fly tying, materials dying/handling, and “fly fishing smarts” than I would/could, have learned from 3 other people!
"Generous to a fault", when I fixed Henry's email program a while ago, I naturally did it for free, because we're neighbors and close friends. But, true to his "nature"....... later that same day, he brought me over the very last, in existence, "#1 Hoffman's Super Grizzly", neck. He wrote a nice note, on the neck's white card backing and handed it to me, saying; "Well, THIS ONE, is "IT", Paul!! It's the very last #1 from my pre-Whiting inventory. My, email's working great, by the way,thanks again!"
